Can Andy ever win a career Golden Grand Slam?

Here's a thought. Our hero has a US Open, a Wimbledon and an Olympic Gold medal in his trophy cabinet.

The missing elements from a career golden slam are, of course, the Australian Open and the French.

Now, it's quite easy to imagine Andy winning an Aussie title in the next year or two. He's made two finals before, and he's now proven that he can win GS finals.

So, that leaves the French. The tough one. Of his 28 tournament victories, which includes the Olympics, nine Masters, and two GS, not a single one has been on clay. Not one. He hasn't even made a final (I think.) He's made the FO semi, in 2011 if I remember correctly, and a couple of clay masters semis.

But can he possibly see off Nadal, the King of Clay, and actually win the French one year?

Sounds difficult. Unlikely even. But hey, wouldn't it be something to end his career with a Golden Slam?

We must not forget that Fed only managed the 4 slams when Nadal was knocked out. He, of course, has very little chance of winning the golden slam. I think that Andy could well win the FO.

Well, I think so too. But would we have to rely on Nadal being injured do you think, or could Andy actually see him off. What would he have to do differently to his game? Or does he have the game, but just hasn't had the breaks, or maybe the belief?

^ I'd so love to think so. For me, the Aus Open is attainable, but given Andy's previous form on Clay, I don't see the FO within his grasp. However, Andy is full of surprises and very driven about what he wants to achieve. Wimbledon showed us that. I figure it depends on what he wants for himself, really.

That guy from the Sanchez-Casel academy said he thinks Andy could win the French. He seems to think Andy has it in him to beat Nadal on the surface too, which is an intriguing thought.

I think Andy showed his potential on the clay in 2011. Forget the rounds before for a second, Andy had Djokovic on the ropes in Rome in the semi's, and he pushed Nadal in the semi's in MC. Might he have won that one if he hadn't hurt his elbow? We'll never know now, but there's no doubt in my mind that those two events showed Andy can play on the surface. He also reached the semi's at RG that year. Since then he injured his back. I still can't help wondering if that has had a bearing on Andy's development on the clay.

Personally I would never rule anything out with Andy. It would be tough, realistically we all know that, but look at what Andy has already done in what is widely accepted as the strongest era in the game.

You've only got to listen to a number of the pundits to hear that Andy is only going to get better over the next few years. He's only going to grow in his ability, but also in his confidence.

I do think we might have to wait a bit for Andy to get over the line on the clay, but I do think he could win the FO in the future.

It would be very tough, but I wouldn't want to rule it out. Andy hasn't played well on clay the last couple of years, but he can definitely play better on it, and with the right draw it's not entirely ridiculous.

So far in Andy's career, he simply hasn't given priority to his clay game, and he could definitely improve it if he really wanted to, but he'd need to adjust his schedule and enter some of the smaller clay court tournaments.

If he were to get the win in Australia, and if he's feeling fresh enough, I could see him entering a couple of tournaments in the South American swing to work on his technique. The danger is that the change of surface might muck up Indian Wells and Miami for him, but that might be a risk worth taking.

I don't think he will. Rafa, Djokovic, Federer, Ferrer, Del Potro and Berdych are all better than him on clay, as well as some others outside the top 10. His main problem is the movement and I don't think he'll ever be as comfortable on it as players who learnt to play tennis on clay.

His back problems have flared up two years in a row during the clay season, so he maybe won't want to play too much on the surface if it risks his Wimbledon run.

I would like to see him end his career with a clay title though - any title. As you say Sparkle, playing tournaments in the South American swing would be a good idea. He'd have a decent shot at somewhere like Vina del Mar, as top 10 players don't generally enter, though he'd still have to play good claycourters.